Virgin America online test

[trap]

Hola,
I'm trying to find information on the "online test" and interview profile at Virgin? Can somebody help me out, please.
Thanks in advance.

 

[pilotyip]

what kind of test is it?

 

[Captain Morgan]

A lot of "If John sits next to Sherry, but Doug is 3 chairs down from Bill, what phase will the moon be in?" I heard if you act as though you're a homosexual Apple user when you take the test then you'll do fine.

 

[Flyer1015]

It's a pilot computerized testing with mathematical and pattern recognition questions. It is a tough test, and each question is timed for 3 minutes. There are 20-25 of these types of questions. The rest of the 120 questions (or so) are personality profile, agree/disagree/neutral/etc in which you just have to be honest and yourself. The math/pattern questions are tough, you should practice beforehand if possible. Just google pilot aptitude testing, pilot computerized testing, pilot psychomteric testing, pilot compass testing, etc.

 

[Flash]

Who comes up with this stupid crap?

 

[FurloughedAgain]

The same trolls who hide in caves and write standardization manuals.

 

[Flyer1015]

Who comes up with this stupid crap?

I actually think it's a good test. It's an industry-standard typical pilot computerized test. It's not stupid crap, it's a good way to eliminate candidates who are not serious about the job or those who haven't bothered to prepare. If you want the job, you'll make sure you prepare for it. The questions are tough, but a sharp pilot with a college degree who has taken college-level math should be able to do these kinds of questions. Those who are used to things being handed to them on a silver plate will find this test very diffcult.

 

[Flash]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I would think that with enough flight hour qualified applicants, hr depts that add unnecessary levels of testing and paperwork are just adding to the cost of running a company. But maybe that's the dinosaur way of thinking in this shiny new pc rj world.

 

[xjhawk]

so if you study a question bank and memorize the test type questions or as I have heard some people do, have their spouse take the test with them-that makes them a better, more qualified candidate for a highly competitive position. Yeah, I am bitter I have not been called-when clearly they are looking for something that I am not. Most of that test is touchy feely questions that only hold water if you believe the rest of the crap that HR's have been telling us on what makes a good pilot. Take the pilots out of the hiring process and what do you get? Stupid test banks, quotas or the "right" people, less experienced pilots getting the opportunities (my sister was a recruiter and told me all about the off the record type requirements they would have but would not put in writing). Then again, if you have connections and are persistent, maybe one would have a chance. But I guess when I applied at my current job-I had no connections, was persistent, and met the requirements and got an interview. I think getting to the interview is where you make it or break it-at that point it is up to you.

I will just have to respectfully disagree with you about the quality of those tests. Have you seen the requirements FedEx is posting as their "ideal" candidate? It pretty much eliminates the guy that has been at the regionals as a captain since 9/11 as they are too experienced. That is what happens when the HR hires a touchy feel psych firm to determine what your ideal pilot candidate would be.

 

[Flyer1015]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I would think that with enough flight hour qualified applicants, hr depts that add unnecessary levels of testing and paperwork are just adding to the cost of running a company. But maybe that's the dinosaur way of thinking in this shiny new pc rj world.

They tried that for a while, hiring those with tons of experienced hours and could fly the sim like none other. Then problems arose, like their inability to to do a basic TOD calculation, or their inability to deal properly with customers. Virgin is 100% about the customer experience, and treating their guests well. That reflects in their interview, with 99% of it being TMAAT. There's no sim, no technical questions. They don't care if you're a hotshot topgun Chuck Yeager. They want to know if you're personable, and fit the culture of the airline.

so if you study a question bank and memorize the test type questions or as I have heard some people do, have their spouse take the test with them-that makes them a better, more qualified candidate for a highly competitive position.

The VA online test doesn't really have a bank you can memorize and then get a 100% on. It's not ATP type questions. If you have your spouse, that's cheating, but I suppose an applicant could do that. I will say though that after I took the test, one of the messages afterwards stated something to the effect that they could give a re-test at a later time and expect a similar score to ensure accuracy. Basically they're trying to catch those cheater applicants.

Yeah, I am bitter I have not been called-when clearly they are looking for something that I am not. Most of that test is touchy feely questions that only hold water if you believe the rest of the crap that HR's have been telling us on what makes a good pilot. Take the pilots out of the hiring process and what do you get? Stupid test banks, quotas or the "right" people, less experienced pilots getting the opportunities (my sister was a recruiter and told me all about the off the record type requirements they would have but would not put in writing). Then again, if you have connections and are persistent, maybe one would have a chance. But I guess when I applied at my current job-I had no connections, was persistent, and met the requirements and got an interview. I think getting to the interview is where you make it or break it-at that point it is up to you.

Pilots out of the hiring process? Who do you think set the bar so high as 5000TT and 1000TPIC? It certainly wasn't HR. Honestly, I feel that is too high a minimum requirement. The pilots are part of the hiring process. If you get the interview, you'll meet with the CP, a checkairman, and Director of Training. As for quotas, I suppose nothing stops them from calling an applicant simply because the name sounds like a woman's or sounds like a minority name. Connections certainly help, too. But at VA as of right now, an applicant has to pass the pre-visor to move forward, regardless of how many internal recs they have.

I will just have to respectfully disagree with you about the quality of those tests. Have you seen the requirements FedEx is posting as their "ideal" candidate? It pretty much eliminates the guy that has been at the regionals as a captain since 9/11 as they are too experienced. That is what happens when the HR hires a touchy feel psych firm to determine what your ideal pilot candidate would be.

I haven't seen anything but the pilot minimums published on Fedex's website at pilot.fedex.com What are you implying as for the "preferred requirements" ?????

I will say, though, it's only natural. Over time, the longer you are in the left seat, the more likely your habits will become more die hard and hard to break. The theory behind limiting experience to 3000-6000TT and 500-2500TPIC is that a candidate within this window still is easily mold-able and does not have die hard habits. I'm not saying this is the case with every single senior pilot, but more likely than not, the more left seat time they get the more their habits become ingrained and harder to break. It's sometimes the small stupuid stuff. I still remember the direct entry captain pilots in my class who just wouldn't shut up with their "this is how we did it at our old airline." Or, they questioned the instructor about the 9E way of doing it. I'm sure crap like that gets old, real fast. You want to tell them: you are not at your old airline anymore. This is our airline, you will learn our way, or leave and go back to your old airline. So with stuff like that, I can see how HR or even a pilot's office could make a determination that one has "too much" turbine PIC or is "too qualified" for the position.

 

[trap]

Thanks for the information, Flyer1015. Now comes the diligence!

It's a pilot computerized testing with mathematical and pattern recognition questions. It is a tough test, and each question is timed for 3 minutes. There are 20-25 of these types of questions. The rest of the 120 questions (or so) are personality profile, agree/disagree/neutral/etc in which you just have to be honest and yourself. The math/pattern questions are tough, you should practice beforehand if possible. Just google pilot aptitude testing, pilot computerized testing, pilot psychomteric testing, pilot compass testing, etc.

 

[cmrflyer]

The math part of the test is only 15 questions, the same type of questions 14 year olds do at school. They only seem hard because you haven't had to think that way in a long time.
Good luck.

 

[IADBLRJ41]

how many is VX looking to hire in 2012?

 

[A-V-8]

I interviewed with Virgin and then typed this up however I have never posted it until now. The interview did not go well. I went to prep with the FedEx guy in Florida and he did return my money upon the rejection. I don’t have an interest in working at Virgin any longer so if they figure out that I posted this it is no big deal. I highly recommend the prep with the guy in Florida because of the money back guarantee. It wasn’t his fault that I tanked in the interview. Seemed like a great company with great opportunity.


OK Guys this is not an IQ test. It is a Logic and Analytical test. These questions are from the LSAT (Law School Admissions Test). If you want to do some hard core preparation you could attend a law school test preparation course. You could just buy a book on the lighter side and focus on these sections. There are only a few (like seven or so) formats that you will see these questions in. The strategy for success is not to be able to memorize and analyze lots of stuff at once. You only need to know the strategy for setting up a table to determine the answer for that format of question. I will elaborate later in this post. And if you haven’t realized already anything in red is my own work and I have posted stuff I found on the internet trying to find questions for you.

Analytical Reasoning Questions
These questions measure the ability to understand a structure of relationships and to draw logical conclusions about that structure. You are asked to reason deductively from a set of statements and rules or principles that describe relationships among persons, things, or events. Analytical Reasoning questions reflect the kinds of complex analyses that a law student performs in the course of legal problem solving.

Logical Reasoning Questions
These questions assess the ability to analyze, critically evaluate, and complete arguments as they occur in ordinary language. Each Logical Reasoning question requires the test taker to read and comprehend a short passage, then answer a question about it. The questions are designed to assess a wide range of skills involved in thinking critically, with an emphasis on skills that are central to legal reasoning. These skills include drawing well-supported conclusions, reasoning by analogy, determining how additional evidence affects an argument, applying principles or rules, and identifying argument flaws.

Here is the type of stuff that you will face in the test.
http://www.admissionsconsultants.com/lsat/analytical_reasoning.asp

A school teacher must schedule seven sessions, which are abbreviated M, N, O, P, S, T, and U, during a day. Seven different consecutive time periods are available for the sessions, and are numbered one through seven in the order that they occur. Only one session can be schedules for each period. The assignment of the sessions to the periods is subject to the following restrictions:

M and O must occupy consecutive periods.
M must be scheduled for an earlier period than U.
O must be scheduled for a later period than S.
If S does not occupy the fourth period, then P must occupy the fourth period.
U and T cannot occupy consecutively numbered periods.

1.Which of the following could be a possible list of the sessions in the order that they are scheduled during the day?
(A) MOPSTNU
(B) NTMSOUP
(C) SMOPTNU
(D) SOMPUTN
(E) STOMPUN

2. If session M is assigned to the third period, then which of the following must be true?
(A) N is assigned to the sixth period.
(B) O is assigned to the first period.
(C) S is assigned to the fourth period.
(D) T is assigned to the fifth period.
(E) U is assigned to the seventh period.

3. Which of the following could be true?
(A) M is assigned to the first period.
(B) O is assigned to the fifth period.
(C) S is assigned to the seventh period.
(D) T is assigned to the sixth period.
(E) U is assigned to the third period.

4. If N is assigned to the third period, then each of the following could be true EXCEPT:
(A) M is assigned to the fifth period.
(B) O is assigned to the sixth period.
(C) P is assigned to the fourth period.
(D) T is assigned to the first period.
(E) U is assigned to the sixth period.

5. If T is assigned to the seventh period, then which of the following must be assigned to the fifth period?
(A) M
(B) N
(C) O
(D) P
(E) U

 

[A-V-8]

You will need scratch paper. In simple terms I received a question that gave me a list of five or so names and each one went to work at a certain time. Between 7 am and 2 PM. It said that Mr. X went to work at 9. Mrs. Y went to work 2 hours after Mr. X. Ms. Z went to work 3 hours before Mrs. Y.
Construct this diagram. Start filling what you know and the answers should jump off of the page.

7
8
9
10
11
12
1
2

What do you already know? The answers began with something like “What is known with certainty about the workers.”

Mr. X went to work after Mrs. Y.
Mr. X went to work before Mrs. Y
Ms. Z may have gone to work before Mr. X but definitely after Mrs. Y

Knowing how to set up your scratch paper for that question is 99% of the battle. If you have to think of how to set it up you will not stand a chance. You only have 3 minutes per question. Just simply recognizing the format of the question and how to solve it will make you coast through this. Like I said before this is not an IQ test. You need to understand the format that the LSAT type questions are in and be able to solve them. Anyone can ace this with what I have already posted. If anyone here can find a huge database of questions I would be happy to look through and copy questions that have the same format as the ones I saw on the test.

I am certain that this is not the original work of the pilot group. These questions are likely from a huge bank of questions that the company testing you has in their inventory. You will probably not find the exact questions. If the company that administers the test also publishes an LSAT question bank or study guide I bet you would find the same questions in it but that is a long shot. The formats and understanding them is the key. If you already recognize that format from your preparation you will solve the question nearly instantly.

Moving on to the Psyche.

You need to understand how these things are scored to understand how to answer a question. On the evaluation there will be a list of qualities that good pilots have been known to possess. Like the following.

Follows rules aaaaaaaaa29
Plays well with others 30
Is not suicidal aaaaaaa30
Energetic aaaaaaaaaaaaaa27
Yada aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa28
Yada aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa29
Yada aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa29

Your answers will give you a score. The most desirable score will be from the best answer like this.

I often feel tired at work. I Strongly Disagree will give you 5 points toward energetic. I Strongly Agree will give you 1 point.

You will answer the same question over and over again to accumulate points in a given personality trait that Virgin is screening your personality for. The above fields turn into a chart. A good candidate for a pilot position is a straight line on the left like the one that I made. A bad profile for a PILOT would be over to the right. A zigzagged one is an unstable person.


This is the profile of a serial killer.

Follows rules aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa2
Plays will with others a30
Is not suicidal aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa 4
Energeticaaaaaaaaaaaaa 27
Yada aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa3
Yadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa 29
Yada aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa1
I am serious about that!

If you are not sure ask yourself “ What would a good pilot say to this question?” You don’t have to answer the questions that are evaluating the same personality trait exactly the same way every time.

Well I am out. Good luck!


http://www.lsac.org/jd/pdfs/LSATPreparationweb.pdf

Virtually every format on page 16 until the section on the writing sample section on Page 32


http://www.lsac.org/jd/LSAT/lsat-prep-materials.asp

http://www.manhattanlsat.com/logic-games.cfm

Note: I had to insert the letter a in rows and make the color white to make the personality profiles look right because the website kept takeing out the spaces.

 

[Rekks Inbound]

I did the pre-visor, then got the questionaire email about 2 weeks later. Haven't heard anything now for a few weeks. Any ideas on what the timeline is on possible callbacks?

Peace.

Rekks

 

[xjhawk]

Flyer, every airline gets those people who cannot leave the past behind them even when they are suppose to be learning something new. I hated in every one of my new aircraft/seat classes at mesaba the idiots who kept saying....that is not how we did it in the Saab/Dash/this or that airline. They were only stroking their own egos and disrupting the class and learning. I will say the same thing about the Mesaba guys who when we started changing over to the pinnacle way of doing things.....they would complain about how it was not the right way to do things-well, they are now paying you to fly this new way, learn it or do something productive in the future about making it safer-stop complaining now. That being said, I have been in class with multiple 400 hour new hires and multiple old Avro guys with a lot of hours and a lot of gray hair. Experience matters-and it showed in training and on the line. Yes the 400 hour pilots had a learning curve (some shorter/longer than others) but they had to learn on the line-and if you had experience, you would know that in such cases-safety is a concern then-hense the higher hiring minimums. Simple as that. If you skirted under the hiring mins, then there were other reasons-well connected? a quota to fill? lucky? who knows. Just do not place yourself above those that did not get that chance just because you got lucky. There are tons of great pilots out there applying and I do not know why they have not been called. I will not group myself in that category as I always keep an eye on my own cocky/ego level so here I go...I know guys with 7-10,000 hours total, a few grand of PIC, line check airmen, 737 type, and multiple letters of recommendations and not only is SWA not calling, but neither is anyone else.....

I will say congrats again...by the way

 

[xjhawk]

decided not to post a copy from the Virgins career site.......you figure it out

 

[Flyer1015]

decided not to post a copy from the Virgins career site.......you figure it out

Under their career section, it asks "Are you Virgin enough for Virgin America?" You, sir, are not only married, but also have kids! You are definitely not Virgin enough!

 

[Flyer1015]

Flyer, every airline gets those people who cannot leave the past behind them even when they are suppose to be learning something new. I hated in every one of my new aircraft/seat classes at mesaba the idiots who kept saying....that is not how we did it in the Saab/Dash/this or that airline. They were only stroking their own egos and disrupting the class and learning. I will say the same thing about the Mesaba guys who when we started changing over to the pinnacle way of doing things.....they would complain about how it was not the right way to do things-well, they are now paying you to fly this new way, learn it or do something productive in the future about making it safer-stop complaining now.

Agree with the above!

That being said, I have been in class with multiple 400 hour new hires and multiple old Avro guys with a lot of hours and a lot of gray hair. Experience matters-and it showed in training and on the line. Yes the 400 hour pilots had a learning curve (some shorter/longer than others) but they had to learn on the line-and if you had experience, you would know that in such cases-safety is a concern then-hense the higher hiring minimums. Simple as that. If you skirted under the hiring mins, then there were other reasons-well connected? a quota to fill? lucky? who knows. Just do not place yourself above those that did not get that chance just because you got lucky. There are tons of great pilots out there applying and I do not know why they have not been called. I will not group myself in that category as I always keep an eye on my own cocky/ego level so here I go...I know guys with 7-10,000 hours total, a few grand of PIC, line check airmen, 737 type, and multiple letters of recommendations and not only is SWA not calling, but neither is anyone else.....

I will say congrats again...by the way

I agree too, and I don't know exactly how their internal process works. All I know is that one has to pass the pre-visor and then they get an email questionnaire. I don't know what the score cut off is, and they never disclose scores. No one is skirting under the hiring mins right now. They are published as ATP, 4000TT, and 1000TPIC preferred but not required. I agree that this is a tough environment for jobs. I don't know the reasons as to why some do get called while others equally qualified do not. But I will say this. If you try hard and keep trying, then you deserve to be called. I'm not saying you're in this category, but I can't even begin to count how many CAs I've flown with who have never updated their logbooks and aren't really applying, because they are fat/dumb/happy with where they are. Once things go south, then they enter panic mode.

I spent countless hours applying to various places. Entire evenings sacrificed away from the wife, secluded in job search. You name it, I applied it. Aloha Air Cargo, Allegiant, VA, Spirit, Hawaiian, JetBlue, US Airways, Corning Glass, Parker Hannifin, Emirates, Qatar, flyDubai, Boeing, Bombardier, Koch, several private FBO for DECs, Prudential, URS, an Ohio Energy company, etc etc etc. All of these require time, and some upwards of 2 hrs just getting all the information they require. I'm not in the luxurious boat of "holding out" for only SWA or Fedex. There are plenty of those guys too, holding out, and then complain they aren't getting called. If only they would expand their horizons, more opportunities could come available.

I think perseverence should pay off. Work hard enough, apply to enough places, and eventually, the phone will ring. That's my theory, and it seemed to work.